Sunday, October 3, 2010

This is a simple recipe that I really like a lot!. At home, when I was a little girl, we used to make a lot of preserves: jams, marmalades, tomatoes sauce, and my favorite.....red bell peppers in extra virgin olive oil.

I was always ready to help doing this dish because I wanted to eat it later!!!.....

Now, I keep the tradition of doing it at home with my family, and we love both: making it and eating them.

This recipe has no quantities, but it has some ingredients:

Beautiful Red Bell Peppers

Beautiful red bell peppers

Extra virgin olive oil

Black pepper

Rosemary leaves

Garlic

Bay leaves

I don't know the reason, but I start this recipe at night, like it was made in my home. After you have prepared your dinner, heat the oven for 30 minutes at 450F. In the meantime, wash your red bell peppers, and dry them well. Put the bell peppers in an oven proof dish, and put them in the oven (after the 30 minutes). Cook them for 10 minutes, turn off the oven and leave them all night long without opening the oven.

The day after, you will have a very "wrinkled" and soft red bell peppers. This is a sign that they are cooked.

With clean hands, peel them with your fingers (like a banana), it is very easy. Open each in the upper side, and carefully collect all the juice they produce, but discarding all the seeds.

Peeled red bell peppers with their juice and without seeds

Peel garlics (as many as you want), and slice them. Wash and dry rosemary leaves and bay leaves.

In a clean glass jar, start putting a layer of cooked red bell peppers, and a layer of rosemary, garlic, pepper, and bay leaves (you can use different mixes), and another layer of red bell peppers. Continue until you finalize the red bell peppers.

Once you have finalized it, place the red bell pepper juice. With a fork, softly moves the sides of the jar in order to accomodate the juice and fill the air gaps. Put extra virgin olive oil, and repeat the same movement to acomodate the olive oil, fill any possible air gaps, and have a thick cover on top (minimum 1.5 cms).

Leave it in a dark closet or refrigerator for 5 days before using it. Enjoy just with boiled potatoes, rice, bread or the dish you want to use it.

Important tips:

1) Use a gas oven and not electrical oven. I have used both, and in the gas oven taste better. Don't ask me why. if you have a wooden oven....Better!!
2) Be careful to clean all the seeds. Otherwise you risk to have a preserve that will not last long.
3) Be careful to fill all the air gaps with extra virgin olive oil. That step will avoid the preserve to go bad.
4) Don't use too much rosemary. It makes the preserve bitter.
5) Wash and dry the herbs you want to use in this preserve.

And after.....What do you do with the extra virgin olive oil when the red bell peppers are gone?

1) Use the extra virgin olive oil to stir-fry the paella

2) Use the extra virgin olive oil to wet bread....

3) Use the extra virgin olive oil to stir-fry shrimps

4) Use the extra virgin olive oil to stir-fry vegetables for the pasta

10 comments:

Thanks Chef Dennis for your visit!!....This is a very Mediterranean way to eat peppers....and we love it!!...healthy and tasty....What else can you ask for?.....mmmm....a piece of good bread to eat them!!....Abrazotes, Marcela